Students would get computers with levy

Sunday

Oct 20, 2013 at 12:01 AMOct 20, 2013 at 3:17 PM

Every middle- and high-school student in Columbus City Schools would get a portable computer that might become a take-home device to assist in their learning if voters approve a 9.01-mill levy on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Bill Bush, The Columbus Dispatch

Every middle- and high-school student in Columbus City Schools would get a portable computer that might become a take-home device to assist in their learning if voters approve a 9.01-mill levy on the Nov. 5 ballot.

The $6.8 million per year in property taxes dedicated for the effort would be stretched thin in the later years of the five-year program, and might eventually require tapping the school district’s general fund to cover some of the costs.

According to the plan, Columbus schools will lease almost 30,000 computers, mostly laptops or tablets. That would allow the district to purchase them for $1 each at the end of the lease in 2018.

The computers would be phased in through 2015, and once fully implemented, the lease would cost $6.6 million a year — or all but about $200,000 of the 0.8 of a mill dedicated to the effort. At that point, the district would have to find more funding, said Tom Czajkowski, chief information officer of Columbus City Schools.

In addition, some one-time capital money to install Wi-Fi and fix a computer glitch would come out of a 1.01-mill bond issue that is also part of the levy.

The whole plan’s operation would cost $8.74?million a year, or about $1.9 million more per year than the 0.8-mill technology portion of the levy would raise.

The plan calls for:

• Leasing more than 29,700 desk-top computers, laptops or tablets. More than 23,000 would be for giving one to each middle- and high-school student. Elementary classes would be provided one device for every four students.

• Installing Wi-Fi networks in every district building. The first wave could be added by this spring, paid for by a

$2.5 million bond issue and $530,000 a year of operating cash.

• Hiring 10 new information-technology specialists, adding to the district’s current staff of 13, to support the devices and Wi-Fi. The cost: $980,000 a year.

• Training staff to use the new equipment. Cost: up to $650,000 per year.

• Fixing a glitch in a system installed under a previous superintendent and technology chief that causes teachers and students to wait a long time while computers boot up for use. Cost: a one-time $1.6 million in bond money.

While the district has had problems with technology rollouts in the past, Czajkowski — a vice president of information technology for Scotts Miracle-Gro until he joined the district this year — is confident of success. The effort, while large, isn’t cutting edge, and scores of districts across the country have made similar upgrades, he said.

“And I’m talking about big districts: New York, Chicago and Miami down in Florida,” Czajkowski said. “We’ve already learned a lot by talking to those districts.

“It’s going to be basically consumer technology, and we’re going to make use of applications out on the Web. A lot of the (previous) problems were related to trying to do too much inside the districts.”

Using new technology to improve educational outcomes was a goal of Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s education commission. The commission recommended incorporating digital learning into the curriculum in all grades and courses.

Districts across Ohio are engaged in similar projects to provide computers for each student, called 1-to-1, said Sam Orth, chief technology officer for the Management Council of the Ohio Education Computer Network.

“It’s just a natural extension of how kids learn,” Orth said. “I think there are a lot of issues that have to be thought through for that to be successful.” For example, will the district have the capacity to service such an effort and will it have a plan to integrate computers into the curriculum?

A new citizen technology panel would be formed if the levy passes. That panel would decide which devices, software and services to buy, review vendor proposals, and make recommendations to the school board, Czajkowski said.

It isn’t decided yet whether students would take the devices home with them, but if so, they would be insured for damage or theft. That $50 per unit per year of insurance could be paid fully by the district or shared with parents, Czajkowski said.

What happens at the end of the five-year period? The levy’s operating millage is permanent, meaning it would still collect money, so the district would have money to continue the program in some form, Czajkowski said. And the district could recoup some money by purchasing the devices for $1 and then reselling them, he said.